From the world's first pots to Cool Japan

When I was asked to write The Shortest History of Japan, it seemed the perfect opportunity to pull together all my love and knowledge of the country. It's more than 45 years since I first went to Japan, and I've been immersing myself in Japanese culture ever since. Noh and Kabuki, Japanese literature, Japanese art - all have a glorious and subtle flavour of their own.

Every book I've written touches on Japanese history. My first book, On the Narrow Road to the Deep North, told the story of my journey in the footsteps of the haiku poet Basho, who travelled Japan in the 17th century, and of Yoshitsune, whose path Basho was following. The Brothers was a saga covering the last hundred years of Japanese history. Geisha gave me a different perspective. Then came four novels, all set in the middle of the 19th century.

With The Shortest History, the first question was where to begin - with the mythical creation of Japan, with the Palaeolithic J%u014Dmon hunter gatherers, or in historic rather than prehistoric Japan? For me there was no question. The J'Dmon were the world's first potters, a little known fact that deserved to be pointed up, and their pots were stunningly beautiful; you can see them in the British Museum.